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lionkingcmslEven more on the trip and Megaplex.
Tuesday 3/14/05 - Travel Day: I got up and had breakfast with my bro. He changed shifts and was now working the 11-7 shift, so I happen to catch him before he went to bed for the day.
I gassed up at the local convenience store and got a rather pleasant surprise. After figuring my gas mileage, which I normally do on long trips, for Monday's travel I was happy to learn that I got over 34mpg! That is a heck of a lot better than 15mpg. ;=3 I could now get close to 500 miles per tank of gas, instead of the 320 miles per tank.
So, on that happy note, and a quiet running car, I headed home. I didn't quite make the 500 mile per tank mark, but I still got 32 mpg when I filled up next in NC at Exit 168. Of course this station's prices were a bit on a high side $2.15 9/10 (highest I paid), and when I got back on the highway, 12 miles further, which I could've easily made, the prices were back to $1.99 9/10. :=/ Oh well, live and learn.
Nothing happened on the trip and I contacted![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
camstone to see if he was doing anything later. He said he would have to check with mooivos , but he didn't think they were doing anything. He called back to confirm that they were indeed not doing anything and gave me directions to his "new" house, which I almost promptly forgot trying to thread my way through Southern VA traffic. Here is where I made an interesting discovery. When heading south, the last major "inner city" that I-95 passes through is Petersburg, VA. It is not until you reach Jacksonville, FL, about 570 miles later, do you have another "inner city" to deal with. Sure, I-95 goes through Emporia, NC, but that is more like a small town and the speed limit only drops to 65 mph for a distance of 5 miles or so, and very rarely is there heavy traffic. It is in this stretch, Petersburg - Jax, that you can make up a lot of timer if you need to.
After re-calling Camstone, to get the directions again, I finally show up and we promptly go out for pizza at a place he's been meaning to try. :=3 It is always good to see my friends and to relax with them a bit. Unfortunately my time was limited and I had to get back on the road to get home at a decent hour.
Here is a puzzler, I can drive the 12.5 hours straight through to my bro's with no problem, stopping only for gas, restroom breaks and food. I'll even have energy left over to do stuff. However I can't do it in reverse, even without stopping at Cam's. I normally run out of energy around Baltimore. :=/
My mom thinks, I tend to agree, is that on the way down I hit the heavy traffic early and have an easy drive after that, but on the way back the easy drive is first and I have to concentrate on the heavy traffic later and that drains me.
Whatever the reason, I took a brief 45-minute nap at the Maryland House rest stop north of Baltimore. With that quick re-charge I headed home and made it back to a very happy cat at around 1a Wednesday morning.
Summation: It only took a 1200-mile drive to get my car fixed to the way it was supposed to be. Truth be told, I enjoyed working with my bro and dad. Not only that, I don't have jack stands and the proper compression tools to do the job properly, so doing it down there is a plus. Getting the manifold welded for nothing was a really big surprise and plus. ;=3
Megaplex is a nice con, with Carl Fox and crew doing a great job. The only thing I would suggest is better planning in the programming area. There was plenty of "empty" time for panels, and then there were panels, like the CARE presentation and the fursuit panel, that were directly opposite each other. I will definitely be down next year. :=3
It was a joy to show Smrgol, for which this was only his second time in Florida, a portion of the state many tourists don't know about, and for him to meet my parents in a relaxed setting. I will admit it was depressing to still see the signs of the hurricane after this much time has passed. However, the people that live down there are a hardy bunch and they will recover, of that I have no doubts.
So on a scale of 1 to 10, my trip rated a 8.5, with the car, and money, problems keeping it from being a 10.
Tuesday 3/14/05 - Travel Day: I got up and had breakfast with my bro. He changed shifts and was now working the 11-7 shift, so I happen to catch him before he went to bed for the day.
I gassed up at the local convenience store and got a rather pleasant surprise. After figuring my gas mileage, which I normally do on long trips, for Monday's travel I was happy to learn that I got over 34mpg! That is a heck of a lot better than 15mpg. ;=3 I could now get close to 500 miles per tank of gas, instead of the 320 miles per tank.
So, on that happy note, and a quiet running car, I headed home. I didn't quite make the 500 mile per tank mark, but I still got 32 mpg when I filled up next in NC at Exit 168. Of course this station's prices were a bit on a high side $2.15 9/10 (highest I paid), and when I got back on the highway, 12 miles further, which I could've easily made, the prices were back to $1.99 9/10. :=/ Oh well, live and learn.
Nothing happened on the trip and I contacted
camstone to see if he was doing anything later. He said he would have to check with mooivos , but he didn't think they were doing anything. He called back to confirm that they were indeed not doing anything and gave me directions to his "new" house, which I almost promptly forgot trying to thread my way through Southern VA traffic. Here is where I made an interesting discovery. When heading south, the last major "inner city" that I-95 passes through is Petersburg, VA. It is not until you reach Jacksonville, FL, about 570 miles later, do you have another "inner city" to deal with. Sure, I-95 goes through Emporia, NC, but that is more like a small town and the speed limit only drops to 65 mph for a distance of 5 miles or so, and very rarely is there heavy traffic. It is in this stretch, Petersburg - Jax, that you can make up a lot of timer if you need to.After re-calling Camstone, to get the directions again, I finally show up and we promptly go out for pizza at a place he's been meaning to try. :=3 It is always good to see my friends and to relax with them a bit. Unfortunately my time was limited and I had to get back on the road to get home at a decent hour.
Here is a puzzler, I can drive the 12.5 hours straight through to my bro's with no problem, stopping only for gas, restroom breaks and food. I'll even have energy left over to do stuff. However I can't do it in reverse, even without stopping at Cam's. I normally run out of energy around Baltimore. :=/
My mom thinks, I tend to agree, is that on the way down I hit the heavy traffic early and have an easy drive after that, but on the way back the easy drive is first and I have to concentrate on the heavy traffic later and that drains me.
Whatever the reason, I took a brief 45-minute nap at the Maryland House rest stop north of Baltimore. With that quick re-charge I headed home and made it back to a very happy cat at around 1a Wednesday morning.
Summation: It only took a 1200-mile drive to get my car fixed to the way it was supposed to be. Truth be told, I enjoyed working with my bro and dad. Not only that, I don't have jack stands and the proper compression tools to do the job properly, so doing it down there is a plus. Getting the manifold welded for nothing was a really big surprise and plus. ;=3
Megaplex is a nice con, with Carl Fox and crew doing a great job. The only thing I would suggest is better planning in the programming area. There was plenty of "empty" time for panels, and then there were panels, like the CARE presentation and the fursuit panel, that were directly opposite each other. I will definitely be down next year. :=3
It was a joy to show Smrgol, for which this was only his second time in Florida, a portion of the state many tourists don't know about, and for him to meet my parents in a relaxed setting. I will admit it was depressing to still see the signs of the hurricane after this much time has passed. However, the people that live down there are a hardy bunch and they will recover, of that I have no doubts.
So on a scale of 1 to 10, my trip rated a 8.5, with the car, and money, problems keeping it from being a 10.
